Description

Focusing on the territories of the Holy Roman Empire from the early Reformation to the mid-eighteenth century, this volume of fifteen interdisciplinary essays examines some of the structures, practices and media of communication that helped shape the social, cultural, and political history of the period. Not surprisingly, print was an important focal point, but it was only one medium through which individuals and institutions constructed publics and communicated with an audience. Religious iconography and ritual, sermons, music, civic architecture, court ceremony, street gossip, acts of violence, are also forms of communication explored in the volume. Bringing together scholars from diverse disciplines and scholarly backgrounds, this volume transcends narrow specializations and will be of interest to a broad range of academics seeking to understand the social, political and cultural consequences of the "information revolution" of Reformation Europe.

Reviews

'… the volume include[s] a number of very strong contributions providing some fascinating insights into the history of early modern Germany.' History '… a collection of absorbing and thought-provoking case studies, each having valuable implications for general historical interpretation…' Sixteenth Century Journal

Table of Contents

Contents: Introduction, James Van Horn Melton; Violence and urban identity in early modern Augsburg: communication strategies between authorities and citizens in the adjudication of fights, B. Ann Tlusty; Patricide and pathos: a 1565 murder in deed and word, Joy Wiltenburg; From public event to publishing event: court funerals and the print medium in early modern Germany, Jill Bepler; Anticlericalism in Bamberg on the eve of the Peasants' War, William Bradford Smith; Anabaptist liars: communicating and concealing the faith in early modern Tyrol, D. Jonathan Grieser; Preaching and discipline: the case of 17th-century Rostock, Jonathan Strom; Debating the meaning of pilgrimage: Maria Steinbach, 1733, Marc R. Forster; The public of confessional identity: territorial church and church discipline in 18th-century Hesse, Robert von Friedeburg; Conspiracy and denunciation: a local affair and its European publics (Bern, 1749), Andreas WÃ¼rgler; Garlic and the Jews: JÃ¶rg Breu the Elder's The Mocking of Christ as Protestant "Thesenbild" or Catholic devotional image?, Andrew Morrall; Standing by the ancient faith: Fribourg's fountains and the coming of the Reformation, Donald A. McColl; Musical pedagogy in the German Renaissance, Susan Forscher Weiss; "Not like the unreasoning beasts": rhetorical efforts to separate humans and animals in early modern Germany, Susan C. Karant-Nunn; Expanding the therapeutic canon: learned medicine listens to folk medicine, Martha Baldwin; The debate between Johann Weyer and Thomas Erastus on the punishment of witches, Charles D. Gunnoe, Jr.; Index.

About the Series

With the publication of its 100th book in 2012, the St Andrews Studies in Reformation Studies series celebrated an impressive publishing achievement. Since its establishment in 1995 the series has consistently offered high-quality, innovative and thought-provoking research in the field of early modern religious history. By encouraging authors to adopt a broad and inclusive interpretation of ’Reformation’, the resultant publications have done much to help shape current interdisciplinary interpretations of early-modern religion, expanding attention far beyond narrow theological concerns. Each title within the series has added to a body of international research showing how the ripples of the Reformation spread to virtually every corner of European society, both Protestant and Catholic, and often beyond. From family life, education, literature, music, art and philosophy, to political theory, international relations, economics, colonial ventures, science and military matters, there were few aspects of life that remained untouched in some way by the spirit of religious reform. As well as widening conceptions of the Reformation, the series has for the last fifteen years provided a publishing outlet for work, much of it by new and up-and-coming scholars who might otherwise have struggled to find an international platform for their work. Alongside these monographs, a complementary selection of edited volumes, critical editions of important primary sources, bibliographical studies and new translations of influential Reformation works previously unavailable to English speaking scholars, adds further depth to the topic. By offering this rich mix of approaches and topics, the St Andrews series continues to offer scholars an unparalleled platform for the publication of international scholarship in a dynamic and often controversial area of historical study.